Why the L.A. Phil's Handel festival was downright revelatory

In 1707 George Frideric Handel, a 22-year-old extremist composer moving successful Rome, startled the Vatican and the nationalist with “Il Trionfo del Tempo e del Disinganno” (The Triumph of Time and Disillusion). An opera disguised arsenic an oratorio to get astir the church’s prohibition connected profane opera, the impolitic enactment astir past and contiguous is formed arsenic the struggle betwixt extravagance and sanctity. Humanizing our obsession with quality and work for council, Handel’s aboriginal masterpiece comes crossed arsenic timely arsenic it is titillating.

Exactly 240 years later, different extremist 22-year-old, Pierre Boulez, began his Second Piano Sonata. This chaotic and impolitic enactment startled civilized Parisian salons with what sounded similar sheer ugliness. Yet it took a sonata this analyzable and assertive to effect the European post-World War II avant-garde and supply a ground for euphony that headed successful caller directions.

Boulez, who died 9 years ago, would person been 100 past Wednesday. Among the cosmopolitan celebrations of his enactment this season, a young and appropriately chaotic pianist with a sensation for decease metal, Thomas Mellan, impressively captured the aggression of Boulez’s Second Sonata connected the composer’s day arsenic portion of the Piano Spheres bid astatine the Colburn School. The adjacent night, crossed the thoroughfare astatine Walt Disney Concert Hall, the Los Angeles Philharmonic presented “Il Trionfo” to reason a groundbreaking weeklong Handel Project, the archetypal installment of French conductor and harpsichordist Emmanuelle Haïm’s caller three-year relation arsenic the orchestra’s creator collaborator.

What are the likelihood of these uncommon works showing up backmost to back? Very large successful astir places but little astonishing here. Boulez had adjacent ties with Piano Spheres laminitis Leonard Stein (who gave the archetypal L.A. show of the Second Sonata successful 1963) and with the L.A. Phil (which volition beryllium celebrating Boulez adjacent month).

In her ain right, Haïm has breached Baroque barriers. She made an arresting L.A. Phil debut successful 2011, bringing an uninhibited lustiness to Handel, and with each successive quality she has caused the Baroque to look progressively modern, astir arsenic unpredictable and changeable arsenic Boulez. Her assignment of creator collaborator follows that of opera manager Yuval Sharon, who was amended known arsenic an creator disruptor, a designation arsenic good suited to Haïm.

Nine years ago, Haïm was the conductor successful a highly provocative staging of “Il Trionfo” astatine the summertime Aix-en-Provence festival that included a filmed clip of the French theorist Jacques Derrida, who was sometimes accused of doing to literate studies what Boulez had done to music, and vice versa. Haïm moreover recorded “Il Trionfo” backmost successful 2004 astatine IRCAM, the machine euphony institute Boulez created successful Paris.

Haïm framed “Il Trionfo” astatine Disney Hall with singular brilliance. Her Handel Project included 3 programs. For regular L.A. Phil subscription concerts the play of March 21-23, she conducted Bach’s Magnificat and Handel’s “Dixit Dominus.” This was followed by 2 programs with Haïm’s ain ravishing play instrumentality ensemble, Le Concert d’Astrée. These consisted of a Rameau/Handel program, studies successful luxuriant sonorities. “Il Trionfo” came last. The L.A. Phil, sparing small expense, besides flew implicit Haïm’s 25-member d’Astrée choir from Paris on with 8 bonzer vocal soloists.

Handel’s “Dixit Dominus,” which was composed the aforesaid twelvemonth arsenic “Il Trionfo” and began Haïm’s L.A. Phil program, acceptable the scene. It excessively is boldly operatic, particularly for a ineffable work. It avoids scandal, though, by being a seductive joyousness to perceive and by not undertaking the riskier quality desires of “Il Trionfo.” At Disney Hall it offered unalloyed joy. Haïm’s virtuosic d’Astrée choir dazzled. The L.A. Phil gave the champion approximation of playing play instruments I’ve encountered. With Bach’s Magnificat and an encore of “Happy, Happy Shall We Be” from Handel’s “Semele,” “Dixit Dominus” made definite that happiness prevailed. Wonderful smiles each around, connected signifier and off.

In the adjacent performance March 25, Handel’s “Ode for St. Cecilia’s Day,“ a mounting of poesy by John Dryden, took adjacent less risks, astatine slightest for anyone with a emotion for music. The “Ode” celebrates successful exalted opus and irresistibly vivid instrumental invention, the wonderment of euphony successful each its processes and measures. Handel delights successful the blaring trumpet, the warbling flute, the occurrence of harmony, the capableness of euphony to tame the savage beast and connection revelations of the beyond. Haïm seemed to person 1 acquisition for her ensemble chorus and her soloists, soprano Elsa Benoit and tenor Eric Ferring: Find, successful each utterance, ever much happiness.

This emotionally upbeat mentation made “Il Trionfo” look each the much revolutionary with its allowances for disrupting philharmonic formulas arsenic good arsenic intelligence ones. Coping with information and disillusion caused Handel to instrumentality again and again to the enactment implicit fractional a century, rewriting it doubly (the past clip astatine the extremity of his life) arsenic the mature and stately “The Triumph of Time and Truth.” Even so, it is the freshness of allegorical audacity arsenic a young genius looks up that has the astir relevance.

The characters are Beauty, Pleasure, Time and Disillusion. Beauty is young and vain. Pleasure assures her that she tin enactment that way, truthful she mightiness arsenic good unrecorded it up arsenic agelong arsenic she can. Time says not truthful fast. Disillusion warns her that the roadworthy to salvation is to look the facts. It takes her 2 ½ stubborn hours to yet travel Disillusion.

But Pleasure cannot beryllium defeated. She’s acceptable for the adjacent victim. She lives for the infinitesimal and volition not fto it go. Time and Disillusion stay abstractions up to the constituent erstwhile we situation nary longer fool ourselves.

Haïm’s inspired singers — Benoit (Beauty), Julia Lezhneva (Pleasure), Iestyn Davies (Disillusion) and Petr Nekoranec (Time) — each gave a convincing arguments. Pleasure is often presented arsenic a sleazy antheral operator. Lezhneva’s enthralling Pleasure acted arsenic a benignant of ghost, a haunted wanderer seeking her ain validation alternatively than victims.

Handel wrote for Pleasure 1 of his astir celebrated and moving arias, “Lascia la spina.” Leave the thorn, Pleasure utters successful lament, instrumentality the rose. Handel reused it aboriginal successful his opera “Renaldo.” Haïm moved the Thursday show on with an strength that didn’t let immoderate country for applauding arias. The stunning interaction of Lezhneva’s “Lascia” was the dependable of a ample assemblage withholding gasps of awe.

There is small adjacent successful euphony to 22-year-old disruptors connected the level of Handel and Boulez. We are successful an property of gleeful disruption, peculiarly arsenic we witnesser Silicon Valley strategies and the tearing down of the national government. Handel and Boulez revealed a antithetic strategy. Both whitethorn person been assertive successful their demands that the satellite beryllium acceptable for a caller direction. But they tore down worn-out classical structures successful which they were profoundly schooled, knowing already what worked and what needed replacement. They took the adjacent measurement anticipating wherever the caller state would instrumentality them. Both spent the adjacent fractional period processing ideas they initiated successful these 2 aboriginal works, making them matter, arsenic they inactive do.